• A designer at X (formerly Twitter), has shared a preview for the platform’s shadowban alert.
• Accounts that share “sensitive content” will be labelled, along with posts being limited in terms of reach and discoverability.
• X is also adding an appeals button for those wanting to challenge a shadowban.

It has become no secret that X (formerly Twitter) used to place a shadowban on accounts it deemed to be potentially divisive or harmful to the platform, with the account holders being none the wiser.

It was one of the myriad elements that Elon Musk said he would tackle when he bought the platform last year, and while we are yet to see a new system for the shadow banning of accounts, we may have a better idea of what that system could look like.

This as a designer at X, Andrea Conway, shared two previews from her own account detailing the alerts for a shadowban.

Sticking with the freedom of speech, not reach mantra that X has been touting of late, accounts may receive an alert informing them that a shadowban has been put into effect, although the wording does not use that phrase.

The previews note that “We’ve added a label to your account which may impact its reach”. This is followed by a link to learn more.

Clicking on said link would share more information regarding the ban, and why the account in question is deemed to have infringed on certain aspects of the platform’s terms of service.

“We have found that your account potentially contains sensitive media — such as graphic, violent, nudity, sexual behaviour, hateful symbols, or other sensitive content,” the learn more link notes.

“We may cover your posts with a warning so people who don’t want to see sensitive content can avoid it. The reach of your account and its content may also be restricted, such as being excluded from the For You and Following timelines, recommended notifications, trends, and search results,” it adds.

There is also an appeal button that account holders can access, should a mistake have been made.

Whether appeals would be successful is really up to the nature of the sensitive content that was shared. While nudity may be easy to overturn, inciting violence, antisemitism, and sharing hateful symbols will likely prove more difficult. That said, former US President Donald Trump had his account reinstated recently, so it remains to be seen if the rules around shadow banning will be the same for everyone.

As mentioned, X has yet to fully implement this alert system, and the previews shared by Conway are still subject to change.

The wait for the alerts continues, but it’s clear that X will do everything it can to keep paying accounts on its platform, regardless of what content they share.